I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one making astronomical jokes about the failure that is the Saturn company. This isn’t a complaint about their cars reliability, looks, or even pricing, just about the company itself. Why should a company like Saturn be kept around by a conglomerate like GM, when it has been losing money since day 1? Let bad ideas die and...

Over 30 miles per gallon and a fairly potent 4 cylinder engine paired with a 6-speed transmission makes the 09 Aura a winner as far as I’m concerned. Although it still kind of looks bland, as much of the Saturn car line up does, it fits the bill in terms of economy and luxury. Reviews are pouring in that love the great buy that is the 09 Saturn Aura at less than $25,000. The 09...

I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one making astronomical jokes about the failure that is the Saturn company. This isn’t a complaint about their cars reliability, looks, or even pricing, just about the company itself. Why should a company like Saturn be kept around by a conglomerate like GM, when it has been losing money since day 1? Let bad ideas die and concentrate elsewhere.

Dust under the mat eventually create one demonic dust bunny. In this case, bailed out GM can no longer justify keeping a failing company artificially afloat. “A Different Kind of Company”, that produced a very mundane vehicle line up.

So much for Saturn Astra sparking enough sales in the movie Transformers 2. This will most likely be the very last entry in the Saturn category. Fine by me, Saturn never made news enough to write about anything anyway.

Over 30 miles per gallon and a fairly potent 4 cylinder engine paired with a 6-speed transmission makes the 09 Aura a winner as far as I’m concerned. Although it still kind of looks bland, as much of the Saturn car line up does, it fits the bill in terms of economy and luxury.

Reviews are pouring in that love the great buy that is the 09 Saturn Aura at less than $25,000. The 09 Aura is getting extra marks in it’s interior department due to it’s mix of elegance and ‘just enough’ functionality. Furthermore the double stitched and supportive seats fit perfectly for the reviewers who took it for a spin.

But where the 09 Aura gets the most praise is where the 6-speed transmission meets the 4 cylinder engine. Instead of being clunky and jumping through only 4 gears under heavy acceleration, the Aura is smooth and precise. The extra automatic gears gives the illusion that you are driving a much more sophisticated and expensive car.

The four-cylinder XR delivers. It hits 33 mpg on the highway — outperforming the Camry and Honda Accord. It manages 22 mpg in the city, which seems a little low, but acceptable when you consider average mileage is in the high 20s.

It looks like Saturn is trying to make a publicity push by having the Astra appear in the live action movie Transformers 2. There is not a whole lot of information available about the new Transformer movie, let alone the Saturn Astra, that’s been seen with Shia LaBeouf behind the wheel.

No, we do not know if the Saturn Astra will be a Transformer or not, but it’s still good advertising to a younger crowd for Saturn.

It looks like the Saturn Ion will be going the way of the Dodo Bird, with the introduction of the new 2008 Saturn Astra. It’s a European styled compact with bear bones pricing and practically no standard features, starting at $16,495. Mind you, this base line model doesn’t include an automatic or even air conditioning, which I thought was standard equipment since the model T.

The 4-Cylinder engine is a little wanting, since once it’s loaded down with passengers and luggage the 125lb of torque just doesn’t do interstate on ramps. But, those searching for a relief to $4 gallon fuel prices will probably be more than willing to sacrifice that get up and go for 32mpg on the highway.

This trying to remain green in their next new car purchase may run into some shortages as far as Saturn is concerned. Their latest Green SUV line the Saturn Vue has issued a recall in regards to their hybrid’s battery leaking.

The recall on the 08 Saturn Vue will only effect about 300 vehicles, but they will be robbing current production Vue’s hybrid battery to replace the damaged ones. Another blow to Saturn’s ‘Green’ initiative, since sales are down from this same time last year of 2,500 units.

New in 2008 is the high tech Saturn Astra, a European styled car brought to the US. It’s being branded as a premium compact car, probably to justify the higher price tag. Also unique to an American car is that it’s only available in a single engine configuration trim, a 4cyl, but like other European cars it makes up in suspension where it lacks in power. Go figure.